Investigating the Impact of Influencer Wishful Identification and Parasocial Relationships on Purchasing Behavior: Insights From Influencer Fan Data

Introduction

Influencers have the unique role of cultivating an individual brand that they sell to a viewing audience. Public figures have been used in advertising for hundreds of years to endorse products. The widely recognized first celebrity endorsement dates back to the 1760s when British royals endorsed pottery and chinaware products (Nair, Rajesh, & Singh, 2019). Endorsements have evolved and become more prevalent in society over time. Celebrity endorsements have become increasingly common throughout the 21st century as methods for advertising have boomed through the increased prevalence of digital media (Erdogan, 1999). Endorsements are now a common practice within marketing used to increase sales and overall brand awareness. As of 2009 an estimated 20 to 25% of all advertisements feature a celebrity or famous person (Sliburyte, 2009). While celebrity endorsements have historically been common in offline media, the rise of social media has created a vast digital landscape for advertisements (Segrave, 2015). Celebrity endorsements have become increasingly prevalent on social media applications including but not limited to Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube as they are easy platforms to disseminate mass communications (Burke, 2017; Burns, 2021; Segrave, 2017). Social media has also brought rise to the social media influencer (Burke, 2017; Burns, 2021). An influencer is a person who constantly shares their experiences and emotions with a given audience via content shared on a social media platform (2015; Burke, 2017; Burns, 2021; Enke & Borschers, 2021). A traditional influencer is someone who gained their fame via their content creation on social media platforms (2015; Burke, 2017; Burns, 2021; Enke & Borschers, 2021). Influencers offer a new way for brands to advertise products through both direct endorsements and indirect product placements (Campbell & Farrell, 2020; Leung et al, 2022). The ability for influencers to naturally and organically advertise and endorse products opens up a new realm for marketing (Campbell & Farrell, 2020). One study looking at K-Pop fans in Singapore found that participant parasocial interactions with social media have a positive impact on celebrity endorsement, improving perceived celebrity trustworthiness and brand credibility (Chung & Cho, 2017).

Influencers are unique in their impact on consumer behavior and often are more impactful than celebrities. Research has shown that influencers can successfully influence the purchase intentions of their audience (De Veirman et al., 2017), and have been perceived as being seen as more credible than traditional celebrities (Shareef et al., 2019). Using influencers instead of celebrities can improve brand credibility and trustworthiness by creating a more natural form of endorsement and product placement. Domingues Aguiar and van Reijmersdal (2018) found that users perceive a greater likeness to micro-influencers than meso- or macro-influencers with more followers. Organic and subtle influencer endorsements in social media are more greatly effective than celebrity endorsements (Gräve & Bartsch, 2022).